It seems to me you can categorize states by the shapes of their case graphs:
- States with one defined peak, and a fairly consistent decline from that peak. This would include the NY/NJ/CT/MA states, with early peaks, and a number of other states which were slower to peak.
- States with two fairly clear peaks, which might include FL, TN, KY
- States which have never reached a peak--i.e., their case load is still climbing. Includes CA, TX, AL, UT, NC, SC, AR, KY,
- Small states with too few cases to evaluate.
- Mixed cases
Trying to create a story from this data, I go back to my previous pandemic post:
- the East Coast states were hit early because they are both well networked with Europe and dense. That meant they weren't prepared and got overwhelmed early, but they learned to take covid-19 seriously and adopted measures which reduced spread.
- other states didn't take the virus that seriously (i.e., even if they were officially locked down, public compliance was less than in the hard hit states), meaning if they were networked like FL, they could have an early peak and then a later one.
- possibly two peaks reflects a matter of luck, the virus hitting nursing homes, etc. once, then a slower spread to the more general population.
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